Low-maintenance gardens don’t have to look simple, without lots of plants, lots of rocks, paving, gravel, etc. You can have a beautiful garden by following a few principles. Choice of plants, type of plants, layout of the garden, mulching and a well thought out garden design.
Planning for a low-maintenance garden is how you should start, with planning. Visit your local nurseries, find out from your local council which plants are native to your area. Usually these are the ones that will thrive with little effort on your part.
Choice of plants.
Today there is a wonderful variety of plants to choose from to help with your low maintenance gardening. Drought tolerant and native plants should be your first consideration. These plants will require less attention from you, less attention means less garden maintenance.
Start a reference file, write down all the plants that will be suitable for your area, then look them up online or in garden plant books. Find a good gardening book that will give you the expected height and width of growth. This is very important to allow for growing space and to decide how dense you want the planting to be. The more densely a garden is planted, the less moisture will be lost from the soil, and therefore the less garden maintenance will be.
Plants types
Any plant that needs regular pruning, don’t go there. If it says fast growing, always check the estimated height and width, these can get out of control quickly. Annuals, vegetables, and herbs are not what we call low-maintenance gardening. Although in containers these can work well and maintenance need not be great due to small numbers. After all, a low-maintenance garden doesn’t mean it’s maintenance-free.
Opt for leaf structure, variegated, variety of leaf sizes and colors. There are some wonderful plants in the drought tolerant range and these will be your low maintenance plants Choose plants of various heights and mass plant the different types you choose.
garden design
The way you set up your garden is very important when planning a low maintenance garden. It’s all in the design of the garden.
Hallways, seating areas, perhaps al fresco dining under the shade of trees in the summer and trees losing their leaves in the winter.
Raking leaves doesn’t sound like low maintenance, but a leaf vacuum will take care of that for you and only once a year.
Grass areas should be kept to a minimum. Lawns require a lot of maintenance, especially in the summer. The use of pavers, gravel, and even wood can add interest. Curves look better than straight lines for a more relaxed garden. Straight lines can make a garden look more formal.
You can add contrast to your garden by using different textures. That’s where the use of pavers, gravels, pebbles and wood comes into play. The use of large pots, raised garden beds, water features, a wall or trellis for a vine to climb on and if the garden is small why not a mirror on a fence to reflect the plants?
Bring the view from one area to another by using plants to create interest and expand the garden. Smartly designing your low-maintenance garden won’t make it look like a “low-maintenance garden” but rather a wonderful place to enjoy.
Incorporate low-maintenance items such as pavers, gravel, pebbles, rocks, etc. into your low-maintenance landscape design, but make sure they are laid by a professional or learn how to do the jobs like a professional. It’s all in the preparation, learn to do the tedious first and the end result will definitely be low maintenance.
The same applies to your garden beds. There are some very good weed mats available today and mulches or garden pebbles are a must. Combine these two for a low-maintenance garden with no or very few weeds. Mass plantings will also help stop weed growth, give the plants some room to grow but keep them tighter than recommended. Be careful with ground covers, as some of them can also get out of control and become almost a weed.
Many times people water their gardens too much, that is, more than what the plants require. I live in Australia and we have long dry spells. Our native plants thrive during the summer when there is drought. The ones that do bloom are so beautiful during these dry times, many of them have an abundance of blooms, unlike when there are adequate rains.
Many of the plants and shrubs grown during our current drought are doing the same thing, very strict water restrictions, no hoses and are blooming much better than other years when the homeowner has been able to hose down the gardens. So obviously, we water our gardens more than many of our plants require.
Color the garden to add interest.
When you start looking at the plants that are available in the low maintenance area, you will find the colors and variations in the leaves. There are some wonderful plants, plants like crotons, cordylines, with the number of varieties available, they can add that splash of color against the green tones of other plants.
If you want to add more color, then the pot-o-color available today may do the trick. Even though they are annuals, maintenance is virtually low as all the hard work to establish the plants has been done for you.
As you can see, low maintenance gardening doesn’t have to be boring gardening. You can have a garden to enjoy without the work, it all depends on how you go about planning a low-maintenance garden.